THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Bird, kept more to the lower scrub trees and would alight in the dwarf ske- 
oaks ( Gasuarina ), and ever and anon they would dart into the air as if after 
some small insect, and then return to perch on a bush and repeat the 
performance ; they would at times fly into the ah* and keep mounting up 
in jerky little flights until they attained a considerable height, then dart 
downwards in a diagonal slope to another locality. The birds, although feeding 
on honey to a large extent, eat insect life in the form of gnats and small flies 
which I have seen them catch while on the whig.” 
Mr. Edwin Ashby wrote : “In 1888 these birds were nesting in numbers 
in some scrubby ground near Mount Barker, South Australia. I watched 
a number of birds feeding their young. I did not see the birds again till 1898, 
when again they were numerous along the foot hills of the Mount Lofty 
Ranges. I know of several nests that were taken. A few years later they 
came down again into our neighbourhood. It seems that its occurrence in 
our district is dependent on the dryness or otherwise of the interior.” He 
also sent me a cutting describing the antics of some pairs mimicking accidental 
hurt: “ As I put out my hand to touch the nest the little brown hen flew 
to the ground and pretended to have a broken wing, which hung down 
helplessly at the side ; but the black and white cock quite outdid the hen, 
for he flew at once to the assistance of the hen in her efforts to draw me off; 
he pretended to have a broken leg, and imitated perfectly the sad plight of 
a bird suffering from this disablement. The dead bush he flew to had a 
number of twigs, the top one he tried to settle on, clutching it with one leg, 
but slipped from that to the next one 6 ins. below, and so on, fa llin g from 
twig to twig, clutching at each in turn but being unable to keep its hold, 
finally tumbling helplessly on to the ground. As soon as I had taken the 
eggs and nest, his leg had recovered, and both parents flitted about me uttering 
mournful but low whistles until I was out of hearing.” 
Mr. Tom Carter has written me : “ In your ‘ Reference List * 1912 you 
simply give the Western Black Honey-eater as occurring generally through 
West Australia. It certainly does not occur in the heavily timbered extreme 
south-west areas, according to my observations. Gould states that Gilbert 
found it breeding on the Swan River, but the exact locaUty is not stated, and 
it might be from fifty to eighty miles inland, as the aboriginal name is given 
for the mountain districts of Western Australia.’ The only district in 
which this species was observed by me was about Point Cloates, where in some 
seasons they were not uncommon, but several years might pass without any 
being seen, dhe following extracts are from my journal: ‘March 15, 1898. 
Several seen about Point Cloates, half mile from beach. May 23, 1902. 
Not uncommon at foot of ranges at Point Cloates. June 27, 1901. One 
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